Fact

I have a very cute daughter.  Here's proof:



I can't believe she's already a year old!  At this rate, she's gonna be two soon.  And then three, and then she's off to college.

Speaking of college.  I ran into this video while I was looking for the other one.  It's my former roommate playing a nice polka.  He's a talented guy.  Enjoy:

Priestcraft

...priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; (2 Nephi 26:29 in the Book of Mormon)

At work, I spend time reading about new developments in technology (especially in security and web-related things).  As with anything, people have differing opinions.  And there are several people with a lot of clout, whose opinions are widely accepted and defended by others just because of who they are.  Those with clout also tend to receive more coverage (their stuff is shared more).  As a result, they have the ability to shape public opinion to some degree.

This week, after reading an article written by one of these influentials about the novel idea of taking a break from work (I think it is referred to as vacation in some circles), and after reading the comments in support of this breakthrough, I realized something:

Priestcraft doesn't usually start because someone promotes themselves as a light.  Priestcraft grows from others promoting someone as a light.

Its beginnings are benign: a sincere compliment; a "you should see the great thing they did" to a friend; sharing and praise.  And it is then that the person being lifted up makes the choice to remain humble or become self-serving.

From this, I learn two things:

1. As an other I need to be careful how, who and what I praise.

2. As the lifted I need to choose to be humble despite praise.

Pistols and Prophets

Throughout most of one of last week's dreams, I was carrying a pistol around.  On the back of the pistol was a white switch that let me toggle between "Altoids" and "pistol."  Apparently, the pistol could either dispense Altoids or fire bullets.  It was a very frustrating weapon.  I never used the gun for shooting or for freshening breath because I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger while pointing at my hand (waiting for an Altoid), and I was embarrassed to fire at criminals (what if an Altoid came out instead?).

Very frustrating.

---

Yesterday, I was skimming through the pictures in President Hinckley's biography when I happened upon a picture of Elder Neal A. Maxwell when he was called to be an Apostle.  I instantly missed him -- what an exceptional man!  And then, Elder Bednar spoke about him last night in the CES Fireside.  Here is the last talk Elder Maxwell gave in General Conference:

Our Garden

While we were visiting family in Florida for the Holidays, Alicia showed us her garden.  She had tomatoes, lettuce, blueberries, beans and a weed.  She asked, "How's your garden doing?" forgetting, I think that we live in Utah.

Our garden this year got a late start.  These little guys showed up in July:

It was a pretty hot summer, so (with the late start) I wasn't sure we'd get anything.  Thankfully, though, it has been bitter cold for the past little while and we are reaping a great harvest:

Yum

 Alicia, we'll send some of them back with your parents.

Mia Love

Mia Love recently lost to Jim Matheson in a Utah congressional race.

One day last week while we were eating, Christy said out of the blue: "Mia Love's coming over to feel Madeleine's hands."

Huh?  What?

I muddled around in my head trying to figure out how we knew Mia Love... and why she was coming over to our house to feel our baby's hands.

Then I realized that she was talking about a little girl in our neighborhood named Mya, who loves coming to feel Madeleine's hands.

!00th post1 sort of

This is supposed to be this blog's one hundredth post.  However, after deleting all the unpublished drafts, it turns out that this is only the 95th post.  But such a mistake plays nicely into:

Even Numbers

Why are even numbers so attractive and desirable?  In this context, I don't mean even as in "divisible by two," but any number that is "nice."  for instance 100 is a nice, even number.  But in the context of weeks, 7 might be considered an even number.  Hmm... maybe using even to describe 7 will be confusing.  I need a different name: maybe roundish?  K, let me start over:

Roundish Numbers

Why are roundish numbers so attractive and desirable?  When we're doing push-ups, why is the goal 25 or 50 or 100 (or 10 if you're as strong as me)?  Why don't we set out to do 38 or 99 or 57?  If you told someone you did 99 push-ups, they'd ask why you stopped.  Or that girl who set out to make 1000 paper cranes -- why 1000?  Why do I celebrate my 100th blog post as remarkable and not the 95th?  Why was breaking the 4 minute mile more remembered than the 3 minute 54 second mile?  And while we're on the subject, why is running a mile more notable than running 1.1 miles or 0.9?

Is there something intrinsic in push-ups that demands we do multiples of 5?  Is there a physical limit built in to the body that prevents it from running a mile in 240 seconds?

I've come up with several reasons why I think we like roundish numbers:

1. It looks nice (seeing the odometer roll over to 1,000,000 just looks fun)
2. Roundish numbers tend to have shorter names: one hundred, ten, one thousand, quarter century.
3. Math is a little easier on some roundish numbers.

The year is ending soon (we're in the 10th month), which means it will be time for people to start talking about resolutions.  I challenge you to make non-roundish resolutions.  Resolve to lose 3.4 lbs (or gain 7.6).  Resolve to run 0.4 miles every day.  Actually, instead of resolving to run 0.4 miles every day, pick a landmark and resolve to run to it and back -- don't bring the measurement into the resolution.  Celebrate someone being born on a day other than their birthday.  They're just as alive today as they will be then (although birthdays are actually tied to something real -- the position of the earth relative to the sun).

I don't think roundish numbers are bad (Remember, I celebrated my 10,000th day of mortal life.), I just think we shouldn't limit ourselves to them.

Printing from the bathroom

Right now, our printer is in the bathroom:

Earlier, Christy was blending tomato soup out in the garage.  The reason for both out-of-placements is simple: we're crazy.

And the blender and the printer are loud.  And Madeleine was sleeping last time we used both.

But mostly we're just a little insane.

Essence of Childhood

On my way home from work today, I stopped at the store to purchase some baby soap sans scent.  I looked up and down the soap, shampoo, deodorant and band-aid aisles for too many minutes, only finding stuff for kids, but not babies.

"I guess Harmon's doesn't target my demographic," I concluded.

After giving up, I walked toward the bread, when both Lo and Behold showed me that there's a separate aisle for baby needs.  Who knew?

During my study of the various bottles, I came across a bottle of "Baby Oil" like this one:

"It would be so fun to put one of these over by the olive and canola oil," I thought as I laughed.

But really, it's terrible.  Making baby oil should be illegal.

Wicked Disco

In church today, a 10-year-old girl talked about when she had just moved into their house.  At the time she was two.  She was playing downstairs and accidentally set the downstairs kitchen stove on fire.  As a two-year-old, she didn't understand fire (so she said).  So she went with her mom to drop off the older kids at school.  When they came back, her mom, following an impression, went downstairs and, in the words of the girl telling the story, "She screamed."  The fire had spread to half the kitchen.  Mom put it out, and she was very glad.  All ended well.

I imagined little Madeleine setting fire to our house.  Right now, her crying is the most unpleasant thing she does.  I can't imagine when she starts burning down our house, or driving our cars through walls, or leaving the bath water running, or...

---

I substituted as the pianist in Primary today.  The teacher asked the kids, "What kind of music can drive the Spirit away?"

A girl piped up: "Disco!"

---

Later, the teacher asked, "What are some things that drive the Spirit away?"  Autumn answered, "When someone has worked really hard on a Math assignment, and they've put a lot of time into it, and then you take it and rip it in half."

"Oddly specific," I thought.

Why I Love Windows: A step by step guide to backing up photos

Christy brings a lot to our marriage: postage stamps (I was running low), milk for Madeleine, household decorations, love, and a laptop running Windows Vista.  How do I know it's running Vista?  Because of the sticker under my left hand.  I wonder if Windows 7 comes with a replacement sticker.

To our marriage I contribute a little laptop running Ubuntu (a flavor of Linux) and an old pile of junk computer that stays in the garage (also running Ubuntu).

On the Vista box are many photos that we'd like to keep, like this one:

Notice the large gash on my arm earned defending Madeleine from a pack of marauding wolves.

Here are the 5 simple steps I performed to preserve my magnificent arms for future generations:

Step 1: Choose some software

I research backup solutions and finally decide on CrashPlan because the software works with both Linux and Windows (and Mac, though we don't have one).  You can store backups on local hard drives or your friends' computers, for free.  (Or you can pay $6/mo to backup to their servers).

Bam!  Download it and back up the photos to a USB hard drive I had sitting around.  Then, bam!  Back up my Eeepc.  Now everything is backed up.  Except, if I've learned anything about backing things up:

1. It has to be automatic or you'll never keep it up
2. There needs to be redundancy or the same grenade that blows up your laptop will destroy your backup too.

Step 2: Buy some hardware

After several days of hunting, I decide to buy one of these Synology DS112j NAS boxes:

And fill it with one of these:

Which holds about 2 trillion of these:

(without the chocolate or peanut butter)

Step 3: Set up the network

When the Synology box, a kind of Network Attached Storage (NAS), arrives, I excitedly put it all together (dead simple) and set up a private network.  Here's a diagram of the network (brought to you by www.asciiflow.com):

+--------+           +----------+          +---------------+
| Vista  |           | wireless | ethernet | Synology      |
| box    +( ( ( ( ( (+ router   +----------+ NAS           |
|        |           |          |          | lots of bites |
+--------+           +-----+----+          +---------------+
                           _
            the waves of   _
+--------+    wifi         _
| Ubuntu |                 _
| box    +( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (+
|        |
+--------+

Perfect! Now both computers will be able to access the big wad of bits simultaneously, from anywhere in the house.  And CrashPlan will continuously back up our stuff!

Step 4: Mount a network drive in Vista

To mount a network drive in Vista, I click the branded orb in the lower left-hand corner, then choose "Network".  In the window that pops up

I see SYNNY (the name I gave the NAS; remember, the one with the chocolates in it?) so I double click it.  It asks me for the username and password.  I put the credentials in, and then I see the acer.bak folder that I made for backing up Mr. Vista.

I right-click and choose Map Network Drive... (don't read too much into the ellipsis; it's neither intended to instill a sinister sense of foreboding nor foretell the myriad sorrows awaiting those who seek to map the network drive)

Okay, so map drive Y: to the \\SYNNY\acer.bak folder and it will reconnect at logon.  Great!  Just what I need.  I press the Finish button.

Step 5: Direct CrashPlan to back up to network mapped drive

I open CrashPlan, go to the Destinations tab and...

Hey?  Where's the Y: drive?  Maybe it got disconnected?  I click the Start crystal ball, then Computer where I see that the Y: drive is definitely available:

I Google my problem and end up with CrashPlan's official instructions for backing up to a network-mapped drive.  In short: CrashPlan can't back up to mapped network drives unless they are mapped by the SYSTEM user.

The SYSTEM user?  Lemme see, Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage another account and:

Ah, yes!  Found it.  As depicted, this computer obviously has 3 users: Christy, Guest and SYSTEM.

As a bonus, if you click on the What is a user account? link at the bottom of that window, you are taken through the Existential Wizard which helps you answer the big questions: Where do user accounts come from?  When a user account is deleted, what happens to it?  If a user account is created in a forest, and there's no one around to see it, will it make a sound when you log in?

Step 4: Mount a network drive in Vista as the SYSTEM user

The (un)recommended way from CrashPlan is to make a batch file that uses the net use command to map the drive.  I close one eye and turn my framed security credential certificates to face the wall as I put the username and password into an unencrypted file visible to anyone on the computer.  That's definitely secure.


Probably.

Step 4 1/2: Schedule a task to mount a network drive in Vista as the SYSTEM user

To schedule a task you go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler, then... uh oh:

I click OK.  I think "OK" in this context means, "Don't let little red Xs slow you down, buddy.  It's OK.  Everything's under control."  Phew!  Had me worried.

I create a task to run my batch file when any user logs in and run as the SYSTEM user.

This SYSTEM user seems pretty powerful, and I made sure to check the Run with highest privileges check box.  But don't worry, you won't be burdened with having to enter a password for any of that.  Click OK:

Got it, Vista.  Somethin's been tamperin' with Ronald's update.  Click OK.

Step 4 3/4: Log out and log in to see if... it... :(

I love Windows!  After trying several times (not shown in this post) I think the task is running correctly, and logging correctly.  In the log, I see this:

Z: has a remembered connection to \\10.10.10.30\acer.bak.  Do you
want to overwrite the remembered connection? (Y/N) [Y]:


Hmm... I'm ready for a challenge.  Somehow I've got to answer the question... in the task's command... to which I have no direct input.  But have no fear!  You can get the command's help with net use /help.

See in the help text where it says you can supply a /y flag to the command to answer yes to every question?   It's right there, between... the top... and the, uh... details, details!  Where would the fun be in documented parameters?


I add /y to my command, hoping that the second question isn't


Would you like to format this drive?  (Y/N) [Y]:

Small aside in defense of Windows

To its credit, Vista does document its errors well.  At one point, when trying to remove one of my network mappings (which the good Computer dialog thought was there), I ran into this error:

Less patient people would immediately throw up their hands.  But Vista's got your back with more help info:

But of course!  The network connection could not be found!  Now we're cookin' with gas!

Step 4 7/8: Log on again and make sure the drive was mapped.

I log back in.  The drive isn't mapped.  Hmm... must be that the task is running before it's getting a connection to the wireless network.  I add a delay to the command, then log on again.  And finally it works!

Non "techy" people might be discouraged by such a prominent red X and words like "Disconnected."  But those silly people would do well to remember the earlier prophecy from the Task Scheduler:

Remember, bright red Xs couched in warning language means everything is A-OK.

Step 5: Direct CrashPlan to back up to disconnected, network mapped drive

I go back to CrashPlan, and voila

the spoils be mine!!!!  Now everything is backed up!

Unrelated Step 6: Auto-mounting a non-SYSTEM drive automatically, without user intervention, automatically, on login, every time, without fail, automatically

Along with storing backups, we use the Synology NAS to share files between our computers.  So, I map drive as in step 4 above (the earliest step 4).  When it asks for the password

I make sure to check the Remember my password check box.  What's cool is that Vista provides a quick link to the mapped drive right after logging on:

The yellow triangle means it's important.  I click "to check the status of [my] [automatically mapped] network drives."

then I double click the automatically mapped, public share drive

I put in the password confirming that when I originally selected the Remember my password check box, I wasn't lying:  I do remember my password.

Conclusion

There's not much to conclude.  I love Windows, and everything works:

Bayonets of Fire!

Our baby doesn't sleep in a bayonet.  She sleeps in a bassinet.  It's not her bayonet which is dirty and needs cleaning.  No foe's blood soils her sword.  She hasn't fought in any battles.  She doesn't even have a rifle on which to affix her bayonet.  She has no bayonet.  It's bassinet, (bassinet, bassinet).

Generous people have showered Madeleine with gifts -- mostly well-appreciated clothing.  On one jumper, there was attached a gigantic warning written in both Spanish and English: "Warning: not flame retardant.  Loose clothing is a fire hazard."  Not flame retardant?  What kind of rummy clothing is this!?  Can't even stand fire!?  How do they expect us to get on with normal infantile activities?

Yesterday morning, after a night of interrupting Madeleine's sleep every three hours by pinching her until she cried, Christy was a little tired.  I showered and got ready for work, brushed my teeth, then went to bid her farewell.  She was asleep, so I got close, getting ready to wake her gently.  All of a sudden, still asleep, she hawked and spit.  Like she meant it.  She opened her eyes and saw me, then asked, "Did I really spit?"  "Yes.  You sure did," I said smiling.  We couldn't stop laughing as she described her dream, in which she was brushing her teeth.  Her roommate wouldn't let her spit in the sink.  Eventually, she made it to the sink.  And her pillow.